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Oysters and Fish 



BY 



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THOMAS J. MURREY 

AUTHOR OF "fifty SOUPS," "FIFTY SALADS," "BREAKFAST 
DAINTIES," "puddings AND DAINTY DESSERTS," " THE 
BOOK OF ENTREES," " COOKERY FOR INVALIDS," 
" PRACTICAL CARVING," " LUNCHEON," " VALU- 
ABLE COOKING RECIPES," ETC. 




, OCT 4 1888: 



^ 



NEW YORK "~" 
Copyright, i88S, by 
FREDERICK A. STOKES & BROTHER 

1888 



/fn 



DEDICATION. 

To the Inventor of the 

SHELDON CLOSE-TOP GAS-STOVE, 

Who spent the best part of his life solving the 

perplexed problem of Economy in Fuel and 

Labor in our homes, and to those gentlemen 

connected with gas companies, who assisted 

and encouraged him, this little work is 

most respectfully dedicated by 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 

• PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY ii 

THE OYSTER ii 

The Oyster Season . . . .11 

Oysters out of Season . . . 12 

Oysters Preserved in Shell • .12 

The Food of the Oyster . . 14 

Formation of the Deep Shell . .14 

Cock Oysters 15 

Green Oysters 15 

Banquet Oysters . . . . 16 
Ordering Oysters for the Family Table, i 7 

How Oysters should be Opened . 18 

How to serve Raw Oysters . .18 

Collation Service . . . , 19 

How to Eat a Raw Oyster , • 19 

A Barrel of Oysters . . . 20 

Read This ! . . , . . .20 

COOKED OYSTERS .... 21 

Stewed Oysters . . . . .21 

Philadelphia Fried Oysters . . 22 

Curry of Oysters . . . • 24 

Pickled- Oyster Omelet . . .24 

Deviled Oysters on Toast . , 24 

Pickled Oysters . . . ■ . .24 

Scalloped Oysters , . . . 25 

S 



CONTENTS. 



Oyster Salad .... 

Plain Fried Oysters 

Miss Parloa's "New Cook-Book" 

Oyster Toast .... 

Oyster Omelet 

Oysters, Broiled . 

Tripe with Oysters 

Oysters en Brochette 

Fried Oysters 

Oyster and Canned Salmon Pie 

Oyster Patties . 

Oysters a la Poulette . 

Pie of Oysters and Scallops 

Steamed Oysters 

To Serve Steamed Oysters 

Roast Oysters 

Baked Oysters 



CLAMS 

Little-Neck Clams 

Soft Clams in Chafing-Dish 

Stewed Little-Neck Clams 

Soft Clams .... 

Soft-shell Clams Scalloped 

Clam Toast 

Clam Broth . 

Clam Fritters 

Fried Soft Clams . 



CONTENTS. 



CIL\BS 

Hard-shell Crabs 

Crab Patties, Cream Sauce . 

Soft-shell Crabs 

The Care of Soft Crabs 

Crabs, Soft- shell 

Crab Croquettes . 

Crab , Patties, a la Bechamel 

Crabs, a l'Americaine 

Crabs, Deviled . 
SCALLOPS 

Scallop Broth 

Small Patties of Scallops 

Fried Scallops . 

Scallops en Brochette . 

Stewed Scallops . 
MUSSELS 

The Mussel 
THE LOBSTER 

Remarks on the Lobster . 

The Season for Lobster 

Soft-shell Lobster not Edible 

Selecting Lobsters . 

Value of the Lobster as Food 

Broiled Lobster 

Lobster Croquettes with Pease 

Lobsters en Brochette . 



8 



CONTENTS. 



Deviled Lobster . 

Stewed Lobster, a la Creole 

Curry of Lobster 

Lobster Salad 
THE OYSTER CRAB . 

To Serve Oyster Crabs . 

Oyster-Crab Omelet . 

Oyster-Crab Sauce . 

Acknowledgment . 
SHRIMPS .... 

Market Price of Shrimps . 

Shrimp Omelet 

Shrimp Sauce 
PRAWNS .... 

Curry of Prawns 

Prawns, Deviled, en Coquille 

Prawns, Saute, a la Marengo 

PRAwi>r Salad . 
CRAYFISH .... 

Crayfish Omelet . • 
SALMON . . . , 

Salmon Steak . 

Canned Salmon . 

Salmon Patties 

Salmon Surprise . . , 

Salmon a la Creole . 

Salmon Pie .... 



CONTENTS. 


9 




PAGE 


Salmon in Jelly 


60 


Salmon Omelet .... 


. 61 


Salmon, German Style . 


61 


Salmon a l'Italienne . 


. 61 


Salmon a la Hollandaise 


62 


Salmon, Hunter's Style 


. 62 


Bouillabaisse .... 


. 63 


CODFISH 


. ^Z 


Boiled Codfish, Oyster Sauce 


. 63 


Codfish Tongues 


. 64 


Codfish Steak .... 


. 64 


New-England Codfish Balls . 


65 


Baked Cod 


. 66 


Salt Codfish with Cream 


66 


SCROD 


. 67 


BROOK TROUT 


67 


Brook Trout, Sportsman Style . 


. 68 


Broiled Trout 


69 


Brook Trout, Baked . 


. 69 


Brook Trout, Boiled 


70 


MISCELLANEOUS 


. 70 


Catfish, Fried . . . , 


70 


Tenderloin Trout 


• 71 


Fricasseed Eels . . . . 


71 


Eel Patiies .... 


. 72 


Stewed Eels, Hoboken Turtle Club S 


TYLE, 72 


Pan Bass, Anchovy Butter 


. 73 



lO 



CONTENTS. 



Fillet of Flounder, Tartar Sauce 

Fried Tomcods 

Broiled Salt Codfish . 

Broiled Sai-t Mackerel . 

Fried Porgies with Salt Pork . 

Fish Curries .... 

A Plain Fish Curry . 

Curry of Scallops . 

Curry of Crayfish 

Curry of Eels, with Rice 

Curry of Shad Roe . 

Curry of Frogs' Legs . 

Broiled Weakfish 

Baked Whitefish, Bordeaux Sauce 

Halibut, Egg Sauce . 

Egg Sauce .... 

Fried Butterfish 

Broiled Shad .... 

Baked Shad 

Shad Roe a la Poulette 
Broiled Royans .... 
Broiled Sardines 
Broiled Smelts, Sauce Tartare . 
Smelts Fried, Sauce Tartare . 
Broiled Whitefish 
Sheep's-head with Drawn Butter 
Drawn Butter .... 
Broiled Sheep's-head 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Would it not be beneficial, were the average 
American to substitute fish for the everlasting 
steak and chop of the breakfast-table? 

For the sake of variety, if for no other rea- 
son, we should eat more fish ; and it need not 
always be fried or broiled. A well-made fish 
stew or a curry should be acceptable to the 
majority of us, and undoubtedly would be if 
appetizingly prepared. 

This little work does not by any means pro- 
pose to exhaust the subject of sea-food, for the 
subject is almost inexhaustible ; but it places 
v/ithin the reach of all a series of recipes and 
suggestions extremely valuable to the average 
housewife. 

THE OYSTER. 

The Oyster Season opens in the city of 
New York on the first day of September, and 
closes on the last day of April in each year. 



12 OYSTERS OUT OF SEASON. 

The annual amount of business done in the 
oyster trade is close on to $5,000,000. Each 
successive year witnesses an increase in the 
business. 

Notwithstanding the R canon, there are thou- 
sands of persons who eat oysters at the sum- 
mer resorts along the seashore throughout hot 
weather. 

Oysters out of Season. — The writer 
does not recommend the eating of oysters out 
of their season, no matter how fresh they may 
be, or how appetizing they may appear. 

To supply the demands made upon them by 
summer resorts, oyster-planters shift the oysters, 
during the spawning season, from warm shallow 
water to cold deep water. This checks or pre- 
vents the oysters from spawning, and to all 
appearance they are edible ; but the writer 
firmly believes that interfering with the laws 
of nature affects the health of the oyster, and 
they cannot be as wholesome as planters would 
have us believe. 

Oysters Preserved in Shell. — So long 
as the oyster retains its natural juices, it will 
live out of water, provided the changes in the 
temperature are not too sudden. The moment 
the oyster opens its shells, however, the juices 
run out, and in a short time afterward the oyster 



OYSTERS PRESERVED IN SHELL. 1 3 

diel To prevent the oyster opening its stony 
overcoat, is the object of oyster-shippers; and 
the Patent Office bears witness to their many 
devices having this object in view. Some wire 
the shells, others clasp or envelope the broad 
end of the shells with tin or other metal. No 
doubt these devices aid in keeping the oyster 
alive and fresh a little longer. Whether the 
nervous system of the oyster is affected by the 
process, is a question. Scientists tell us that 
oysters possess organs of sensation, and all 
who have handled oysters learn in time that 
a sudden jar or shock will kill them. The jar 
of the machinery of a steamboat will some- 
times kill an oyster. When shipped to Europe 
they are ordered to be stored as far away from 
the machinery as possible. Some authorities 
claim that the oyster can hear. One cannot 
noisily approach an oyster-bed at feeding time 
v^ithout their hearing, and instantly every shell 
is closed. A cloud or a boat passing over an 
oyster-bank will cause every shell to close with 
proverbial tightness, and the sound of thunder 
will often kill them while they are in transit, — 
conclusive evidence that the nervous system 
in an oyster, while not highly developed, is of 
sufficient importance to merit attention from 
those who roughly handle oysters. 



14 THE FOOD OF THE OYSTER. 

The Food of the Oyster consists of 
minute animal and vegetable organisms and 
small particles of organized matter. Ordinary 
sea-water contains an abundance of this sort 
of food, which is drawn into the gills with the 
water. As the water strains through the pores 
into the water tubes, the food particles are 
caught on the surface of the gills by a layer of 
adhesive slime. As soon as they are entangled, 
the microscopic hair-like projections on the 
gills strike against them in such a way as to 
slide them along the gills toward the mouth. 
When they reach the anterior ends of the gills, 
they are pushed off, and fall between the lips, 
which are also covered with thin hair-like pro- 
jections, which carry the particles forward un- 
til they slide into the mouth. No wonder the 
intelligent tramp wished that he might become 
an oyster. His food would then come to him 
in a sort of endless progression. 

Formation of the Deep Shell. — Al- 
though the oyster lies upon the bottom with 
one shell above and one below, the shells are 
not upon the top and bottom of the body, 
but upon the right and left sides. The two 
shells are symmetrical in the young oyster ; but 
after it becomes attached, the lower or attached 
side grows faster than the other, and becomes 



COCK OYSTERS. 1 5 

deep and spoon-shaped, while the free valve 
remains nearly flat. In nearly every case the 
lower or deep valve is the left. 

Cock Oysters. — There is a belief among 
oyster- eaters, that the dark-gray or black oys- 
ters are male oysters, and are therefore superior 
to the female oyster. Such misinformation was 
evidently promulgated by oyster-openers in anti- 
cipation of a tip for serving selected oysters. 
There is no truth in the assertion, however, for 
there are just as many black female oysters as 
there are black male oysters. There is no char- 
acteristic color by which a male or cock oyster 
can be distinguished from a female oyster. 
Microscopic examination, or a scientific eye, is 
the means of discovering the sex of an oyster. 

The black-oyster romance is of ancient ori- 
gin. The Roman oyster-smashers successfully 
"worked it" on Pliny, Horace, and other 
ancient writers and epicures. 

Green Oysters. — At least a million dollars 
worth of oysters are annually destroyed in New- 
York waters by sludge acid from the oil refin- 
eries and illegal dumpings. The acid kills the 
oysters the instant it touches them, and turns 
them green. There is very little danger that a 
poisoned oyster will reach the consumer, but the 
loss to the planter is enormous. 



1 6 BANQUET OYSTERS. 

The green tint of the oyster, or in fact any 
distinguished color the oyster may possess, is due 
to the color of its food and to the nature of the 
surrounding bottom. The bottom of the Shrews- 
bury River is mud ; the oysters take on a pecu- 
liar tawny color from their muddy bed. Rock- 
away oysters exist on a hard sandy bottom. If 
the beds are covered with sea-lettuce, as they 
often are, the oysters take on a delicate green 
tint. When the lettuce is removed by a strong 
tide or high wind, the oysters gradually assume 
their white, slightly grayish color. Their shells 
are round, thin, and brittle. The shells from 
mud bottoms are long, narrow, thick, and 
spongy. Intruded mud is enclosed by a thin 
layer of pearly shell. 

The oyster epicure may rest assured of one 
fact. No matter what the color of an oyster may 
be, so long as it is alive and seasonable it is 
wholesome. It cannot absorb enough foreign 
matter to injure the epicure without committing 
suicide, and there is no possible danger of any 
one swallowing a dead oyster. 

Banquet Oysters. — As served at the aver- 
age public banquet, the raw oyster is a thing of 
terror to appetite and to weak digestive organs. 
When looking for one's seat, where, through an 
oversidit, one is not furnished with a chart of 



ORDERING OYSTERS FOR THE TABLE. 1 7 

the tables, one beholds six very small emaciated 
oysters. The heat in the room has absorbed 
their moisture, afterwards the bed of fine ice on 
which they were placed has melted, and the 
water overflowed them, thereby finishing the work 
of destruction. One must be under the influence 
of the sherry and Vermouth of the reception- 
rooms, to be willing to begin the feast with such 
an introductory course. No wonder fashionable 
society demands a substitute for the oyster as 
the dinner season progresses. In the name 
of humanity, order the oysters to table and 
announce the dinner at the same time. Guests 
are willing to wait a few moments for toothsome 
oysters, provided they are direct from the ice- 
box. 

Ordering Oysters for the Family- 
Table. — Send the servant to the nearest 
dealer, a few minutes before the oysters are 
wanted, and let her wait for them. In this way 
one is quite sure of procuring freshly opened 
oysters. Many* dealers begin opening oysters 
for their family orders hours before they are 
to be served ; and the result is, they have lost 
much of their juices before being served. 

Miss Parloa's " New Cook Book " says, " Six 
large oysters are usually allowed each person." 
This error should be corrected in future editions. 



1 8 HOW OYSTERS SHOULD BE OPENED. 

Large raw oysters on the half-shell are only 
served at oyster-counters to countrymen, and 
are not served at a dinner, no matter how un- 
pretentious or how elaborate the affair may be. 

How Oysters should be opened. — 
In the author's work on " Luncheon," reference 
is made to the great care which should be 
exercised in opening oysters ; and it will bear 
repeating. Reject all oysters opened by the 
" smashing " process. The shells are not only 
broken and ragged, but, should a person swallow 
a ragged sphnter of oyster-shell, there is great 
danger of its killing him. Insist on it that 
your oysters are opened by the so-called " stab- 
bing " process. 

How^ to serve Raw Oysters. — If for 
a quiet family affair, where " opened " oysters 
are used, keep the plates in ice-water, and dry 
them before placing the oysters on them. For 
more pretentious affairs, but where fancy oyster- 
plates are not a part of the dinner service, use 
soup-plates. Fill them with fine cracked ice, 
place a dainty doily_ over each, and set the 
oysters on top of the doily. The lemon should 
be served on a side-dish, and not in the centre 
of the dish as though one were dining in a res- 
taurant. Four small Rockaways are sufficient 
to serve at the ordmary course dinner. In nine 



COLLATION SERVICE. 1 9 

cases are out of ten, Rockaways are served in- 
stead of the Blue Points. It is therefore advisable 
to order the former ; the dealer might make a mis- 
take if he had them in stock, and send the latter. 

It is quite English to serve raw oysters on the 
flat half-shell, but it is quite American to serve 
them on the deep shell. The American way is 
the best. 

Collation Service. — At evening collations, 
the oysters are served in the centre of a block of 
ice. A clear, square block of ice is selected, and 
a cavity or receptacle is made in it by the aid of 
a hot flat-iron held close to the ice. If one has 
patience, the cavity may be shaved out with an 
ice shave ; if a pick is used, one is Hkely to 
split the cake of ice. An ice boat is easily 
formed by holding a hot flat-iron to a long piece 
of ice. Holes may be made through the bot- 
tom of the block of ice, and filled with brilliant 
flowers ; and the outer sides and top should be 
handsomely decorated with flowers and smilax. 
If electric lights are used in the house, it is an 
easy matter to place them in the cake of ice : 
the effect is striking. The wires are carried from 
the room below the dining-room, or under the 
carpet. 

How to eat a Raw Oyster. — Avoid as 
much as possible the use of condiments, when 



20 A BARREL OF OYSTERS. 

eating oysters. They were never intended as 
an accompaniment of tlie oyster, and are only 
used by country people. A suspicion of lemon ; 
a dash of salt when the dealer has kept them 
covered with cracked ice, and the descending 
ice-water washed out all sea flavor; and, for 
palates grown callous, a dash of cayenne. Such 
abominations as ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, 
etc., should never be used. Do not bolt the 
oyster, but masticate it ; and one will soon learn 
to tell the different oysters by their different 
flavors. By bolting them, one will never know 
how to thoroughly appreciate them. 

A Barrel of Oysters. — Persons living 
away from the city are advised to purchase 
oysters by the barrel. If kept with the deep 
shell down, and in a cool place, they will live a 
long time. The novice is likely to bruise fingers 
in vain attempts to open them ; but, like carving, 
the opening of oysters should be part of a 
man's education. Then there is the charm of 
roasting the oysters in the old-fashioned fire- 
place. Here the novice may burn a finger or 
two, but then it's fun for the youngsters. 

Read this ! — In W. Mattieu Williams's 
" Chemistry of Cookery," I find the following : 
" More than half a century has elapsed since 
Dr. Beaumont published the results of his ex- 



STEWED OYSTERS. 21 

periments on Alexis St. Martin. Tliese showed 
that fresh raw oysters required two hours and 
fifty- five minutes to digest, and stewed fresh 
oysters three and a half hours for digestion ; 
against one hour for boiled tripe, and three 
hours for roast or boiled beef or mutton." 

The general impression among the people is, 
that raw oysters digest almost as soon as they 
become of the same temperature of the stomach. 



COOKED OYSTERS. 

Stewed Oysters. — Boil half a pint of 
milk ; add to it eleven good-sized oysters, a 
walnut of butter, a dash of salt and of pepper. 
Allow the milk to boil up just once, and 
serve. 

The average cook puts the oysters on first, 
and after they boil cold milk is added. When 
the milk boils, the stew is served. The result 
of such treatment of the oyster causes it to 
shrivel so that it is hardly recognizable, and a 
good-sized oyster becomes a mere sprat. From 
this process of cooking originated the ancient 
moth-eaten jokes about church-fair stev/s. 

Cooked as in the foregoing recipe, the oyster 
retains its plump characteristics. 



2 2 PHILADELPHIA FRIED OYSTERS. 

Philadelphia Fried Oysters. — The au- 
thor originally published this recipe in the New 
York " Evening Sun " by request. 

The average New Yorker may call the City of 
Brotherly Love a sleepy sort of a place, but it 
is wide enough awake gastronomically. It has 
within its city limits cooks v/ho prepare fried 
oysters that fairly melt in one's mouth. They 
are so deUcate that there is not a pang of dys- 
pepsia in a whole winter's supply of the tooth- 
some dainties; The reputation of Finneli's 
Philadelphia fried oysters extends from Maine 
to California ; and immense sums have been 
offered for the recipe, but its owner would not 
sell his secret at any price. 

Beat up three eggs thoroughly ; add half a 
pint of oyster-juice, a pepper-spoonful of cay- 
enne, a saltspoonful of black pepper, a table- 
spoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of English 
mustard. Work the mixture to a batter, and 
gradually add a gill of oil. Now comes the 
more particular part of the formula. Cover a 
board or part of a table with a layer of cracker- 
crumbs half an mch deep. Drain fifty oysters 
free from liquid, place them on the cracker- 
crumbs, and dredge over them more cracker- 
crumbs. See to it that one oyster is not on top 
of another. Pick up each oyster by its beard. 



PHILADELPHIA FRIED OYSTERS. 23 

and dip it in the batter. Have ready a quan- 
tity of bread-crumbs grated from the white part 
of stale bread ; spread this out on the table, and 
after the oysters have been dipped in the batter 
lay them carefully on the bread-crumbs two 
inches apart. After they are all spread out, turn 
them over neatly, which will bread-crumb the 
other side. Dip them in the batter again by 
taking hold of the beard, and again spread them 
out on the bread-crumbs. Under no circum- 
stances place one oyster on top of another, or 
in any way press them together ; this would 
make them heavy. When the fat is so hot that 
the smoke from it would light a match, then fry 
them by again taking hold of the beard, one at 
a time, and dropping them into the fat. When 
they are dark brown, take them up, and strew 
over them a quantity of salt. 

The secret is in carefully handling the oyster 
after it has been breaded. How differently 
New York restaurants serve fried oysters ! In 
almost every eating place in the city, one sees 
piles of oysters covered with a batter that plainly 
shows the cook purposely pressed them between 
his hands. When served they look more like 
liver-pads than human food. Nothing short of a 
human ostrich could possibly digest them. The 
Philadelphia oyster, however, is a culinary poem. 



24 CURRY OF OYSTERS. 

Curry of Oysters. — Put an ounce of but- 
ter in a pan ; add to it a teaspoon of curry-pow- 
der, and water enough to prevent burning. Put 
fifteen oysters in just water enough to cover 
them, simmer three minutes, and drain ; thicken 
the broth with a teaspoonful of flour, salt to 
taste, stir this into the curry ; add the oysters, 
simmer a moment, and serve with boiled rice. 

Pickled -Oyster Omelet. — Rinse six 
spiced or pickled oysters in cold water. Divide 
an ounce of butter into little balls, and roll them 
in flour ; put them in a saucepan, heat gradu- 
ally, and whisk to a cream ; add a gill of hot 
water, salt and pepper. Cut the oysters in two, 
and add to the butter. Prepare an omelet in 
the usual manner ; before folding, add the oys- 
ters ; turn out on a hot dish, and serve. 

Deviled Oysters on Toast. — Mix to- 
gether a heaping saltspoonful of mustard flour, 
half a saltspoonful each of white pepper and 
salt, and the yolk of one egg. Dip six oysters 
in the paste, then in fine crumbs, and broil over 
a moderate fire. When done, arrange on toast, 
and squeeze over them the juice of half a lemon. 

Pickled Oysters. — A few pickled oysters 
may be served instead of clams during v/arm 
weather. Scald a quart of oysters a moment, 
drain, and put them in jars. To a pint of oyster 



SCALLOPED OYSTERS. 25 

liquor, add half a pint of hot water and half a 
pint of hot vinegar ; pour over the oysters ; add 
three cloves, four whole peppers, a small bit of 
mace, and a slice of lemon, to each jar. This 
will be sufficient for two ordinary fruit-jars. 

Scalloped Oysters. — Put in the bottom 
of a yellow dish two ounces of sweet butter, 
divided into little pieces. Add a layer of raw 
oysters, and cover them with cracker-dust or 
bread-crumbs, and add salt and pepper to taste ; 
another layer of oysters, and so on until the dish 
is full, the last or top layer to be crumbs, and 
between each layer there should be a small 
amount of butter. Moisten the ingredients with 
a liberal quantity of oyster Hquid, put small but- 
ter balls on top of the dish, and bake a delicate 
brown color. Oysters were formerly baked in 
a scalloped or shell-shaped dish, hence the 
name. 

Oyster Salad. — Boil two dozen small oys- 
ters for five minutes in water enough to cover 
them ; add a httle salt and a tablespoonful of 
vinegar ; drain and cool. Put into a salad-bowl 
the centre leaves of two heads of cabbage let- 
tuce, add the oysters whole, pour over them a 
mayonnaise ; garnish with oyster-crabs, hard- 
boiled eggs, and, if liked, a few anchovies cut 
into fillets. 



26 PLAIN FRIED OYSTERS. 

Plain Fried Oysters. — As a rule, fried 
oysters are not served as a breakfast dish, owing 
to the coating with which they are usually sur- 
rounded. Served plain, however, they are quite 
acceptable. Dry them well in a napkin, and 
roll them in a little flour to insure that they are 
quite dry, then cook them in a very little hot 
dripping. 

Miss Parloa's " New Cook- Book " says, " a 
quart of oysters is enough for a party of ten " 
(p. ii8). There are from twenty to twenty-five 
oysters in a quart, rarely more than this. 

Oyster Toast. — Select fifteen plump oys- 
ters ; chop them fine, and add salt, pepper, and 
a suspicion of nutmeg. Beat up the yolks of 
two eggs with a gill of cream ; whisk this into the 
simmering oysters. When set, pour the whole 
over slices of buttered toast. 

Oyster Omelet. — Stew six oysters in their 
own liquor for five minutes ; remove the oysters, 
and thicken the liquid with a walnut of butter 
rolled in flour; season with salt and cayenne; 
whisk this to a cream. Chop the oysters, and 
add them to the sauce ; simmer until the sauce 
thickens. Beat up four eggs lightly, and add a 
tablespoonful of cream ; turn out into a hot pan, 
and fry a light gold-color. Before folding the 
omelet entirely, place the oysters with part of 



OYSTERS BROILED. 27 

the sauce within, and turn it over on a hot dish. 
The remainder of the sauce should be poured 
round it. 

Oysters Broiled. — Rub the bars of a wire 
broiler with a little sweet butter ; dry twelve 
large, plump oysters in a napkin, and place them 
on the broiler ; brush a little butter over them, 
and broil over a fire free from flame and smoke. 
When done on both sides, arrange them neatly 
on toast; pour a Httle well-seasoned melted 
butter over them, and serve. 

Do not bread-crumb oysters intend for 
broiling. 

Tripe with Oysters. — Tripe, when prop- 
erly prepared by a simple process, is very nutri- 
tious and easily digested. 

Cut up half a pound of well-washed tripe ; 
simmer for three-quarters of an hour in water 
slightly salted ; take out the tripe ; add to the 
broth a little butter rolled in flour, salt and pep- 
per ; add a little more flour if not thick enough. 
Return the tripe and a dozen oysters ; simmer 
for a few minutes longer, and serve. 

Oysters en Brochette. — Select one dozen 
choice oysters ; plunge them into hot water a 
second to make them firm (this process is called 
blanching), then drain, and dip them into melted 
butter ; arrange them on skewers with alternate 



28 FRIED OYSl'ERS. 

layers of neatly sliced bacon ; broil over a moder- 
ate fire. When done, add maitre-d'hotel butter 
to them, and serve on the skewers. 

Fried Oysters. — Beat up the yolks of four 
eggs with three tablespoonfuls of sweet oil, and 
season them with a teaspoonful of salt and a 
saltspoonful of cayenne pepper ; beat up thor- 
oughly. Dry twelve fat oysters on a napkin ; dip 
them in the egg batter, then in cracker-dust ; 
shake off the loose cracker-dust, dip them again 
in the egg batter, and lastly roll them in fine 
bread-cru7iibs. Fry in very hot fat, using fat 
enough to cover them. The oil gives them a 
nice flavor. 

Oyster and Canned Salmon Pie. — One 
pound of best canned salmon, one pint of solid 
oysters, half a pint of oyster liquid ; cover the 
bottom of the dish with neat pieces of the sal- 
mon, season with salt and pepper and an ounce 
of butter rolled in flour, add a few oysters, and 
so on until the ingredients are used. Pour 
in the liquid of both, and cover the top with 
paste. Bake in a moderate oven. There should 
be liquid enough to have the ingredients moist 
when served. 

Oyster Patties. — Roll out a pound of hght 
puff-paste, half an inch in thickness ; cut it 
into rounds with a cake- cutter two inches in 



OYSTERS A LA POULETTE. 29 

diameter; press a small cutter one inch in 
diameter, on each round, one-fourth of an inch 
deep. Place them on a buttered tin, brush a 
little beaten egg over them, and bake in a quick 
oven. When done, remove the centre and a 
little of the inside. Scald (or, as it is called, 
blanch) three dozen oysters ; drain. Put into 
a saucepan two ounces of butter, whisk it to a 
cream ; add a teaspoonful of flour, stir free from 
lumps ; add a heaping saltspoonful of salt, and 
a pepperspoonful of white pepper ; whisk into it 
half a pint each of hot cream and the oyster 
liquor ; allow it to simmer a few minutes and to 
thicken ; then add the oysters and a " squeeze " 
of lemon-juice ; when hot fill the shells, and 
serve. If nutmeg is not objected to, a little may 
be used. 

Oysters a la Poulette. — Blanch (scald) 
a dozen oysters in their own liquor ; drain th&m, 
and add to the liquor, salt, half an ounce of 
butter, the juice of half a lemon, a gill of cream, 
and a teaspoonful of dissolved flour. Beat the 
yolk of one egg, and add to the sauce. Stir until 
the sauce thickens ; place the oysters on a hot 
dish, pour the sauce over them, add a very little 
chopped parsley, and serve. 

Pie of Oysters and Scallops. — Take 
one pint of fresh scallops, and wash them in cold 



30 STEAMED OYSTERS. 

water ; drain, and dry them in a napkin. Cut a 
few slices of fat bacon in strips small enough to 
insert the ends in a larding-needle ; lard the 
scallops with them, and dredge them slightly 
with flour. Select one quart of fat oysters ; line 
a baking-dish with puff-paste ; add the scallops 
and oysters in layers ; season v/ith salt, pepper, 
and a dash of mace. Divide an ounce of butter 
into little balls, roll them in flour, and put them 
between the layers ; add the oyster liquor. 
Cover with a top crust ; bake forty minutes in 
a moderate oven. 

Steamed Oysters. — Wash and scrub the 
shells thoroughly, and rinse them off in cold 
water. Put them in a steamer, large or deep 
shell doivn. Put the steamer on top of a pot 
of boiling water ; steam about six minutes, or 
until the shells separate. Have ready a hot dish 
containing melted butter seasoned with a dash 
of Worcestershire, lemon-juice, salt and cayenne. 
Remove them from the steamer with gloved 
hands, and pick out the oysters with a flat 
knife, saving all the juice possible. Dip the 
oysters in the butter as you open them, and 
the number one can eat is surprising. 

To serve Steamed Oysters. — Steam 
them as in the foregoing recipe. At each guest's 
place at table have ready httle saucers containmg 



ROAST OYSTERS. 3 1 

a quantity of the hot melted butter. Remove 
the fiat shell, and serve the oyster in the lower 
shell ; send about six oysters to each guest at a 
time. 

Roast Oysters. — Clean the shells thor- 
oughly, and place them on the coals in an open 
fire-place, or remove the top of range, and put 
them on the live coals, until they snap open, 
which they will soon do. Care must be exer- 
cised not to burn fingers. 

At evening, young folks like the fun of roasting 
oysters in the furnace below stairs, and eating 
them from the shell as fast as the host can open 
them. 

Baked Oysters. — Clean the shells thor- 
oughly, and fill a dripping-pan with them, deep 
shell down. Look at them after ten minutes. 
If the shells are all opened, they are cooked 
enough. Melted butter, nicely seasoned, is the 
only sauce to serve with them. 



CLAMS. 



Little-Neck Clams. — From the first of 
September until the first of May in the following 
year, the clam — which is richer in nutrition 
than the oyster — is as meek and as gentle as a 



32 SOFT CLAMS IN CHAFING-DISH. 

clam can be. Yet it submits to all sorts of 
indignities from the oyster, and has never been 
known to talk back during the period men- 
tioned. After the first of May, however, its 
manner changes, and it assumes metropolitan 
airs. It lords it over the oyster as a bantam 
struts around a helpless foe ; and it plainly 
intimates to the oyster that moving-day was 
invented to celebrate its departure. 

After May i, the clam must be recognized as 
the avaiit-coureur of all dainty feasts. No sum- 
mer dinner or supper of any pretensions is con- 
sidered complete without the small clam. All 
the small clams in market are supposed to 
come from Little Neck, Long Island. Not one- 
quarter of the supply comes from this locality. 

Soft Clams in Chafing-Dish. — Select a 
dozen large Guilford clams, wash them thor- 
oughly, and plunge them into boiling water for 
a moment. Drain and open them, and use the 
round plump part only. Put in a chafing-dish 
a pat of butter, and when quite hot add a dash 
of flour, and cayenne to suit the taste ; add the 
clams, and when they are slightly cooked add 
a gill of light sherry. Cover the dish, and allow 
it to simmer five minutes. Have ready three 
slices of toast, put four clams upon each slice, 
add a little of the hot sherry, and serve. 



STEWED LITTLE-NECK CLAMS. 33 

Stewed Little-Neck Clams.— Get two 

dozen freshly opened, very small clams. Boil a 
pint of milk, a dash of white pepper, and a small 
pat of butter. Now add the clams. Let them 
come to a boil, and serve. Longer boiling will 
make the clams almost indigestible. 

Soft Clams. — Select a dozen soft-shell 
clams ; wash them well ; remove the shells ; 
trim off the tough neck ; place each clam on a 
half-shell, and add to each half a teaspoonful of 
finely-chopped bacon, a Httle cayenne, a very 
small bit of onion, and a pat of butter rolled in 
flour ; strew over the top a little grated Parmesan 
cheese, and bake to a delicate brown. Cracker- 
crumbs may be used instead of the cheese if 
preferred. 

Soft-Shell Clams, Scalloped. — Purchase 
a dozen large soft clams in the shell, and three 
dozen opened clams. Ask the dealer to open 
the first dozen, care being used not to injure 
the shells, which are to be used in cooking the 
clams. Clean the shells well, and put two soft 
clams on each half-shell ; add to each a dash 
of white pepper and half a teaspoonful of 
minced celery. Cut a shce of fat bacon into 
the smallest dice, add four of these to each 
shell, strew over the top a thin layer of cracker- 
dust, place a pat of table butter on top, and 



34 CLAM TOAST. 

bake in the oven until brown. They are de- 
lightful when properly prepared. 

Clam Toast. — Chop up two dozen small 
clams into fine pieces ; simmer for thirty min- 
utes in hot water enough to cover them. Beat 
up the yolks of two eggs ; add a little cayenne 
and a gill of warmed milk ; dissolve half a tea- 
spoonful of flour in a little cold milk ; simmer 
all together ; pour over buttered toast, and 
serve. 

Clam Broth. — Procure three dozen Little- 
Neck clams in the shell ; wash them well in cold 
water ; put them in a saucepan, cover with a 
quart of hot water ; boil fifteen minutes ; drain ; 
remove the shells ; chop up the clams, and add 
them to the hot broth with a pat of butter ; salt 
if necessary, and add a little cayenne ; boil ten 
minutes, pour into a soup-tureen, add a slice 
of toast, and send to table. This is the mode 
adopted when we do not have a clam-opener 
in the house. 

Raw, freshly opened clams should be chopped 
fine and prepared in the manner above described. 
The large clams are better for chowders than 
for stews and broth. 

Clam Fritters. — Chop medium fine 
twenty-five large quahaugs, or seventy-five Little 
Necks. To a pint of flour add the beaten yolks 



FRIED SOFT CLAMS. 35 

of three eggs, half a teaspoon ful of salt, a tea- 
spoonful of lemon-juice, a dash of cayenne, and 
an ounce of melted butter. Mix well, and make 
a batter by adding about a gill of milk. Add the 
clams, and if the batter is too thick add a little 
of the clam broth. To make them light, beat 
the mixture well ; drop spoonfuls in hot fat, and 
fry brown, as you would doughnuts. 

Fried Soft Clams. — Select half a dozen 
of large Guilford clams. Remove the shells, and 
trim off the dark tough parts. Cut into dice a 
quarter of a pound of salt pork, and fry it. In 
the pork-fat fry the clams, but first dredge them 
with flour. Serve with a slice of broiled or 
fried fat pork. 

CRABS. 

Hard-shell Crabs. — The common blue 
crab is the species of the crab family which 
we are most familiar with. We remember how 
rapidly they darted away from us when we 
pointed the net towards them, when on our 
summer vacation. We also have vivid recollec- 
tions of their anxiety to shake hands with us 
when in captivity. 

Hard crabs are to be had during almost the 
entire season, and the average price asked for 



36 CRAB PATTIES, CREAM SAUCE. 

them is ^3.00 per hundred. Those found in 
market in winter were raked out of the mud, 
where they had buried themselves until the 
advent of warm weather. 

Select a dozen hard crabs, and rinse them 
well in fresli water. Have ready a kettle two- 
thirds full of boiling water, slightly ' salted ; 
plunge them into it, and boil them for about 
twelve minutes ; drain, and when cool put them 
in the ice-box to become cold. 

After the theatre, return home for supper, 
instead of patronizing the restaurant, and serve 
the crabs with sandwiches of buttered bread. A 
light sauterne may be served with them, if not 
objected to. 

Crab Patties, Cream Sauce. — Roll out 
a pound of light puff-paste, half an. inch in 
thickness. Cut it into rounds with a cake-cutter 
two inches in diameter. Press a small cutter 
one inch in diameter, on each round, one-fourth 
of an inch deep. Place them on a buttered tin, 
brush a httle beaten egg over them, and bake 
in a quick oven. When done, remove the 
centre, and a little of the inside. 

Put into a saucepan half an ounce of butter, 
half an onion minced, half a pound of minced 
raw veal, and a small carrot shredded. Toss 
about for two or three minutes to fry, but not 



SOFT-SHELL CRABS. 37 

to color ; then add two tablespoonfuls of flour. 
Mix it well with the other ingredients, and add 
three pints of hot water, a pint of boihng cream, 
half a teaspoonful of salt, and a saltspoonful 
of white pepper. Simmer one hour, and strain 
into a saucepan. Add to each pint of it half a 
gill of warm cream. Place back on range again, 
and simmer until reduced enough to coat the 
spoon, then strain into a crock, and whisk until 
it is cold. This is done to prevent the forma- 
tion of a thick top. At this season of the year 
this is an excellent sauce to have on hand for 
patties, white fish sauces, and also for meat 
sauces. When wanted for patties, melt an 
ounce of butter. While whisking it, gradually 
add a pint of the sauce. Mix it with a quart 
of prepared crab-meat, obtainable at the grocer's. 
When hot, fill the shells with it. 

Soft-shell Crabs. — When the blue crab 
is desirous of increasing his growth, he sheds 
his shell, and for a short period is perfectly 
helpless. The male usually retires to a secluded 
spot out of the reach of eels and other enemies, 
but the female soft shell is protected by a male 
companion v/hose shell is hard. At Sheepshead 
Bay these are called elopers or double crabs. 
As the tide changes, the soft shell begins to 
harden, when it is called " paper-shell," shedder, 



38 THE CARE OF SOFT CRABS. 

or feeler. Before reaching its normal condition, 
the crab is called a buckler, and is only used as 
bait. 

The Care of Soft Crabs. — Soft crabs 
require delicate handling and much care. They 
deteriorate rapidly after leaving the water, and 
are often killed in transit by the sudden jarring 
of the train. If a little care is exercised, they 
may be kept alive from six to ten days. First 
select vigorous crabs, remove them from the 
crate, and give them a bath in water slightly 
salted. Clean the crate thoroughly, renew or 
wash the seaweed which accompanies them. 
Strew over the bottom of the crate a layer of 
the seaweed, and place the crabs in the crate 
in layers, faces upward with side spines touch- 
ing each other, and alternated with layers of 
seaweed. When the crate is full, cover it with 
more seaweed, sprinkle salt water over all, and 
set the crate in a dark, cool place. Sprinkle 
salt water over them from day to day, and re- 
new the bath and fresh sea- tangle about every 
other day. Treated this way, they will keep 
in the hottest weather. One of the principal 
objects in covering them with seaweed is to 
keep the hght from them. Sudden flashes of 
lightning, if seen by them, would frighten them 
to death. Their sensitive organization cannot 



CRABS, SOFI^-SHELL. 39 

even stand the rumbling of thunder, and they 
should be stored away where they cannot hear 
it distinctly. The only care required in clean- 
ing them for the table is to remove the feathery 
gill-like formations under the side spines, and 
the sand-pouch. Soft crabs are too delicate 
morsels to cover with batter. 

Crabs, Soft-shell. — These should be 
cooked as soon as possible after being caught, 
as their flavor rapidly deteriorates after being 
exposed to the air. Select crabs as lively as pos- 
sible ; remove the feathery substance under the 
pointed sides of the shells ; rinse them in cold 
water ; drain ; season with salt and pepper ; 
dredge them in flour, and fry in hot fat. 

Many serve them rolled in eggs and cracker- 
dust ; but thus they are not as good. 

Crab Croquettes. — Take one pound of 
crab-meat ; gently press out the juice, and put 
it in a bowl with a tablespoonful of fine crumbs, 
half a teaspoonful of salt, half a saltspoonful of 
pepper, a dash of anchovy essence, the yolks 
of two eggs, and a very little cold water. If the 
eggs are not enough to make it the proper con- 
sistency, bind the ingredients together, and place 
on ice until wanted ; then work into corks or 
cone-shaped forms, dip them in beaten egg, then 
in crumbs, and fry in hot fat. 



40 CRAB PATTIES, A LA BECHAMEL. 

Crab Patties, a la Bechamel. — Prepare 
the shells the same as for oyster patties (which 
see). Put into a saucepan half an ounce of 
butter, half a medium-sized onion minced, half 
a pound of minced raw veal, one small carrot 
shredded ; toss about for two minutes to fry, but 
not to color ; add two tablespoonfuls of flour, 
stir it about with the vegetables ; then add three 
pints of hot water, or if convenient use hot soup- 
stock instead ; add a pint of boiling cream. 
Season with half a teaspoonful of salt and a salt- 
spoonful of white pepper. Simmer one hour, 
and strain into a saucepan. Add to each pint 
of sauce half a wineglassful of cream. Simmer 
until reduced enough to coat a spoon ; strain it 
again into a crock, and whisk it until cold, to 
prevent a thick top from forming. When wanted 
for patties, or any thing else, boil one pint of it 
with an ounce of butter, whisking it thoroughly. 
Prepare a quart of solid crab-meat, either picked 
from the shells or purchased already prepared ; 
add it to a pint of the sauce ; strew in a few 
shredded mushrooms : fill the crab-shells with 
this, and serve. On fast-days, omit veal and 
stock from meats, and use milk instead. 

[This very excellent sauce was named after 
the Marquis de Bechamel, a worthless court- 
lounger and steward under Louis XIV. Why his 



CRABS, A l'aMERICAINE. 4 1 

unsavory memory has been perpetuated by a gas- 
tronomic monument of worth, is one of those 
inexphcable historical facts that students of the 
art of cookery are continually stumbling upon. 
The close observer will not fail, however, to 
discover that nearly all dishes named after old 
French celebrities were stolen bodily from old 
Venetian and Provencal books of cookery, and 
were re-baptized after some of the most notorious 
profligates of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. Many of these old cook-books, like 
** Opusculum de Obsoniis de Honesta Voluptate," 
a volume printed at Venice, 1475 (^^^^ ^^"st 
cookery-book pubhshed), and others, contain 
recipes almost identical with French cookery 
of the past few centuries.] 

Crabs, a rAm6ricaine. — Pick out the 
meat from the shells of four dozen boiled hard- 
shell crabs ; squeeze out the water gently ; put 
the meat in a bowl, and add the yolks of two raw 
eggs, salt, cayenne, and a very little chopped 
parsley, and two tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs ; 
roll the mixture into small balls or cakes ; dip 
in egg batter, roll in cracker-crumbs, and fry to 
a delicate brown. They may be served plain 
or with tomato sauce. 

Crabs, Deviled. — Pick out the meat of 
four dozen boiled hard-shell crabs, put it into a 



42 SCALLOP BROTH. 

bowl, and add a half-pint of mayonnaise. Mix 
carefully with your hand ; wash a dozen of the 
shells, put a little of the mixture into each ; grate 
a loaf of dry bread, season a pint of it with salt 
and pepper, sprinkle it over the crabs evenly ; 
make twelve httle balls of butter about the size 
of hickory-nuts ; put one on top of each crab, 
and bake in a quick oven. 



SCALLOPS. 



The scallop-shell is familiar to even the chil- 
dren who have visited the seashore, and the 
novice wonders why so small a tidbit should 
require so large a shell. The edible part of the 
scallop is only the powerful central muscle by 
which the mollusk opens and closes its shell. The 
medium-sized scallops are the best. The very 
large and very white variety are more than likely 
to have been inflated and bleached by the aid 
of saleratus. 

Scallop-shells were extensively used in ancient 
cookery, and gave to various dishes the prefix 
" scalloped." 

Scallop Broth. — The peculiar flavor of 
scallops is quite attractive to the convalescent, 
and a broth made from them is nourishing ; but 



SMALL PATTIES OF SCALLOPS. 43 

care should be exercised in selecting the shell- 
fish. To improve their appearance, shippers 
add quantities of saleratus to the scallops, which 
has the effect of bleaching them, and increasing 
their size : this custom may please the dealers, 
but not consumers. Select ' medium-sized scal- 
lops of a natural creamy color, wash them, and 
cut them into small pieces. To half a pint of 
these, add half a pint of warm water and half a 
pint of milk, a " pea " of butter, and a pinch 
of salt ; simmer for twenty minutes ; strain and 
serve. 

A pint of milk and no water may be used 
if the patient desires it. 

Small Patties of Scallops. — Wash a 
pint of scallops, drain, cut them up, and scald 
them ; then put them in just milk enough to 
prevent burning. Add salt and white pepper, 
simmer until quite tender, and thicken with half 
a teaspoonful of flour dissolved in cold water. 
Pour this mixture in small patty-shells (see recipe 
for oyster patties), and serve after the soup and 
before the fish, or as an entree. 

Fried Scallops. — Rinse a pint of scallops 
in cold water slightly salted, then dry them in a 
napkin, and dredge them slightly with flour. 
Fry them in pork-fat. Egg batter and crumbs 
are not recommended. 



44 SCALLOPS EN BROCHETTE. 

Scallops en Brochette. — Drain twenty- 
four medium-sized scallops in a napkin. Parboil 
them a moment. When cool arrange them on 
four skewers, six on each, alternated with thin 
slices of bacon the size of the scallops in width. 
Brush over the scallops a little melted butter, 
and broil. When done, serve with tufts of water- 
cresses and lemon. 

Stewed Scallops. — Scald fifteen scallops, 
and put them into a stewpan with half a pint 
of boiling milk, a dash of cayenne, and a salt- 
spoonful of salt. Just before serving, add very 
litde table butter. 



MUSSELS. 



The Mussel is called the poor man's 
oyster ; but why the poor should have a monop- 
oly of this very useful shellfish, the writer is at 
a loss to comprehend. During warm weather 
the spiced mussel is a treat : it may have the 
honor of ushering in a family dinner instead 
of the clam, and at collations and suppers it 
should be welcome. As they may be purchased 
at from eighteen to twenty- five cents per quart, 
it is a waste of time to pickle them at home, 
unless living at the seashore. 



REMARKS ON THE LOBSTER. 45 



THE LOBSTER. 

Remarks on the Lobster. — It takes a 
lobster about five years to arrive at maturity, or 
over ten inches in length. The spawning season 
depends upon the temperature of the water. 
Along the Sound, the season begins in June, 
and ends in September. 

The Season for Lobster. — Lobsters 
are at their best before the spawning season. 
They are then filled with roe, or coral as the 
red spawn is called by some. This is a great 
delicacy, and is highly esteemed by epicures. 
After the spawning season, which is late in the 
summer, they are in very poor condition, and 
should not be offered for sale until cool weather. 

The green part in the body of the lobster is 
called the tom-alley by New- England folks. It 
is excellent eating. 

The external spawn adhering to the tail of 
the female lobster, when not highly developed, 
is edible, and is used in garnishing and making 
lobster butter, paste, and cardinal-fish sauces. 

It is a curious fact, that the lobster changes 
or re-makes a shell from eight to ten times the 
first year, five to seven the second, three to four 
the third, and from two to three the fourth 



46 SOFT-SHELL LOBSTER NOT EDIBLE. 

year. So says Professor G. O. Sars of Norway, 
about the European lobster, whose habits agree 
more or less closely with those of the American 
lobster. 

Soft-shell Lobster not edible. — After 
the fifth year the change of shell is only an- 
nual. A soft-shell or shedder lobster, unlike 
the soft-shell crab, is not edible, and if eaten is 
likely to produce ill effects. In a soft condition 
the lobster itself is sick, and is therefore unfit for 
food. 

Selecting Lobsters. — Always select a firm 
shell, of a deep dark-green color. Light-colored, 
thin-shelled lobsters are likely to be lean and 
poor. When plunged into the boiling water, 
the joints contract, and the tail draws under, 
provided the lobster was ahve at the time of 
immersion. If dead when boiled, the tendons are 
relaxed, the claws hang loosely, the tail will not 
possess a spring-like tenacity when straightened 
out. Select the former, and reject the latter. 

Value of the Lobster as Food. — 
According to Professor Atwater of Middletown, 
Conn., the nutritive value of the flesh of the 
lobster, compared v/ith beef as a standard and 
reckoned at loo, is 6i to 97. Forty per cent 
of the lobster is edible, the remainder is shell 
and waste. 



BROILED LOBSTER. 47 

Buckland says, " That phosphorus exists in 
large quantities, may be easily proved. A 
lobster in hot weather, when it ceases to be 
fresh, assumes a highly phosphorescent appear- 
ance when seen in the dark, equal if not superior 
to that of a glow-worm or luminous centipede. 
This light increases by friction. . . . The pres- 
sence of phosphorus in the lobster is of great 
importance to the consumers of these sea 
luxuries. There is no substance which conveys 
phosphorus so readily into the human system 
in an agreeable form, and which the system so 
readily and quickly assimilates, as the flesh of 
crabs and lobsters." 

Broiled Lobster. — Select alive and active 
lobster not less than ten and a half inches long. 
(If below this measurement, the dealer should 
be arrested for breaking the law which protects 
the lobster.) Split it in two lengthwise, which 
instantly kills it. Remove the entrail through 
the fleshy part of the tail, and the crop or 
stomach near the head. This done, there are 
two ways of preparing it for table. One is as 
follows : — 

Remove the flesh from the tail, and brush 
over it a little melted butter or ohve-oil ; broil it 
gently, but not too well done. Heat the shell, 
put the meat back in the shell again, add more 



48 LOBSTER CROQUETTES, WITH PEASE. 

butter, salt, pepper, and serve on hot plates. 
The body parts may be boiled, and furnish 
dainty pickings for a late meal. 

The other way is that which is generally 
adopted by restaurants. Brush a little butter 
over the entire half of the green lobster ; broil 
the shell side thoroughly first, then turn, and 
broil the other. Serve with maitre-d'hotel sauce. 

A lobster that has once been boiled and then 
broiled is so thoroughly over-cooked as to be 
very indigestible. 

Lobster Croquettes, with Pease. — Boil 
one-half pint of milk, thicken it with a table- 
spoonful of flour, and let it become cold. Mince 
the meat of a one-pound can of lobster, or one 
pound of fresh lobster ; when very fine, add a 
saltspoonful of salt and half a saltspoonful of 
white pepper. Moisten the lobster mince with 
the thickened milk, and work the whole to a 
paste ; add very little bread-crumb if too thin ; 
let it become amalgamated over the range, and 
place in the ice-box until wanted ; then shape it 
into neat rolls or cones ; dip them in egg and 
crumbs, and fry in plenty of hot fat. Arrange 
the forms neatly on a dish, put round them a 
border of pease, and serve. 

Lobsters en Brochette. — Instead of boil- 
ing the lobster-tails, cut them in pieces, and 



DEVILED LOBSTER. 49 

arrange these on small skewers, alternated with 
small pieces of bacon ; brush melted butter over 
them, and either broil or bake them ; serve with 
sauce tartare (which see on p. 84). 

Deviled Lobster. — Take two Hve lobsters, 
remove the tails, split them in two, and make 
several incisions in them crosswise. Mix to- 
gether half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful 
each of dry mustard and curry, and half a salt- 
spoonful of white pepper, add a tablespoonful of 
oil ; mix, spread it over the lobsters, and broil 
them. When done, return to the shells, which 
should have been kept hot for the purpose ; 
pour a little melted butter over them, and serve. 

Stewed Lobster, a la Creole. — Remove 
the tail part of the meat from three green lob- 
sters ; split them in two lengthwise ; remove the 
thread-like intestine. Melt an ounce of butter in 
a deep frying-pan ; add the lobster ; toss it for a 
few minutes in the butter ; add salt and pepper 
and half a pint of hot water ; cover, and simmer 
three-quarters of an hour; drain, and reduce 
the water one-half by rapid boiling. Put in 
a saucepan half an ounce of butter and a 
tablespoonful of minced onion ; fry brown, and 
add three peeled and sliced tomatoes, one sweet 
pepper, four okra pods cut small, and half a tea- 
spoonful of salt. Allow these to cook fifteen 



50 CURRY OF LOBSTER. 

minutes, add the broth, and simmer until 
reduced to a pulp ; rub through a sieve ; put 
this pwee on a hot dish, place the lobster on 
top, add a little lemon-juice, and serve. 

Curry of Lobster. — Remove the meat 
from two boiled lobsters, cut it into neat pieces ; 
take all green fat and coral, and set them aside ; 
mix the green fat with a heaping spoonful 
of curry-powder. Squeeze out the juice of three 
limes, and add to it half a teaspoonful of pow- 
dered sugar. Put into a frying-pan an ounce 
of butter ; when creamed add a teaspoonful of 
minced onion browned a little ; now add the 
mixed curry-powder ; dissolve a teaspoonful of 
rice-flour in cold water, add this to a pint of hot 
Vv-at'^r or soup-stock, simmer until thick; now 
add the lobster, and simmer twenty minutes 
longer. Wash and dry the coral, separate it. 
Prepare a border of rice on a dish, and over it 
sprinkle the coral and eggs (if any) ; pour the 
curry in the centre, and serve. 

Lobster Salad. — Take two live hen (female) 
lobsters ; boil them thirty minutes ; drain. When 
cold, break them apart ; crack the claws, and 
if the tail-fins are covered with eggs remove 
them carefully. Take out the sand-pouch found 
near the head ; split the fleshy part of the tail 
in two lengthwise, remove the small long entrail 



THE OYSTER CRAR. 5 1 

found therein. Adhering to the body-shell 
may be found a layer of creamy fat ; save this, 
and also the green fat in the body of the 
lobster (called tom-alley by New-Englanders), 
and the coral. If celery is used, tear the lob- 
ster into shreds with forks ; if lettuce, cut the 
lobster into half-inch pieces. Place the salad 
herb in a bowl, add the lobster and the fat, and 
pour over it a rich mayonnaise ; garnish with 
the claws and heads, tufts of green, hard-boiled 
eggs, etc. The lobster eggs may be separated, 
and sprinkled over the mayonnaise. The coral 
is used for coloring mayonnaise, and also butter, 
which is then used in decorating salmon and 
other dark fish used in salads. 



THE OYSTER CRAB. 

The little crab found in the oyster is not, as 
commonly supposed by two-thirds of the oyster- 
eating community to be, the young of the blue 
crab ; but it is a distinct species. It is a mess- 
mate of and caterer to the wants of the oyster, 
being therefore a benefit instead of a detriment 
to the latter. In return for the oyster's kindness 
in protecting it against its enemies, the little 
crab catches and crushes food which in its en- 



52 TO SERVE OYSTER CRABS. 

tire state could not be taken by the oyster. A 
singular thing in connection Avith them is, that 
all found inside of the oyster are females. The 
male of the same variety is found in the neigh- 
borhood, but its shell is firm. 

Oyster-crabs are found at the grocer's, put up 
in half-pint bottles, which retail from 60 to 75 
cents each. At the markets they are sold at 
^2.50 per quart. 

To Serve Oyster Crabs. — Put on a 
small saucer a crisp but dry leaf of lettuce, and 
put in the centre of each leaf a scant tablespoon- 
ful of the oyster crabs. Add a scant teaspoon- 
ful of mayonnaise to each, and serve as a whet 
before a ladies' collation, or at an afternoon 
luncheon. 

Oyster-Crab Omelet. — This is a most 
tempting dish. Roll an ounce of butter into 
little balls, dredge these with flour, put them in 
a pan, and when they begin to melt whisk them ; 
do not let it brown; add a gill of hot water, 
and simmer until thick ; now add half a pint of 
oyster crabs, salt, and a pinch of cayenne. Beat 
up four eggs thoroughly, and make them into an 
omelet ; just before folding, add the crabs, and 
serve. 

Oyster-Crab Sauce. — Add a tablespoon- 
ful of oyster-crabs to half a pint of drawn 



SHRIMPS. 53 

butter, sauce hollandaise, or in fact any white 
or cream fish-sauce, and serve with boiled 
fish. 

ACKNOWLEDGiMENT. 

The writer is deeply indebted to Prof. George 
Brown Goode's compilation and reports of the 
*' Fishery Industries of the United States," for 
much of the natural history of fish and shell 
embodied in this work. 



SHRIMPS. 



The common shrimp, which is caught in im- 
mense quantities along our coast all summer, and 
used for bait, is a dainty which summer residents 
should not neglect. When a shrimp salad is 
wanted, however, the servant is sent to the nearest 
grocer for a can of Southern shrimp, and the 
dehcious morsel at their very door is used to 
feed the fishes. The trouble seems to be, that 
servants dislike the trouble of picking them out 
of their transparent shells. 

Summer hotels would buy the native shrimp 
if fishermen would take the trouble of ofi'ering 
them. No more appetizing or appropriate garnish 
for lobster salads and for portions of boiled fish 



54 MARKET PRICE OF SHRIMPS. 

can be imagined than the little home shrimp 
properly boiled. A plunge into the hot water is 
about all the cooking they need. 

Market Price of Shrimps. — Cooked and 
shelled shrimps are to be had in our markets 
during warm weather, for from thirty to fifty cents 
per quart. Canned shrimps retail for from thirty 
to forty cents per can, and ^3.50 per dozen. 
Rinse them in fresh water before using them. 

Shrimp Omelet. — Toss half a pint of 
canned or fresh shrimps in a little hot butter for 
a moment; add a little salt and pepper and a 
tablespoonful of tomato sauce. Prepare the 
omelet, and just before folding add the shrimps, 
and serve. 

Shrimp Sauce. — Cut up the shrimps into 
halves, add them to a creamy fish sauce of any 
kind ; mix and serve. 



PRAWNS. 



Scientifically there is a difference between the 
prawn and the shrimp ; but it need not be con- 
sidered by the housewife, except that the prawn, 
that comes to this market from the South already 
cooked and shelled, is larger than the shrimp, 
and a little stronger flavored. 



CURRY OF PRAWNS 55 

The shrimps and prawns are found in salt and 
brackish water, while the crayfish are inhabitants 
of fresh water. 

Curry of Prawns. — Prawns are at their 
best served as a curry. Boil two quarts of live 
prawns thirty minutes, drain when slightly cooled, 
break away the shells, and set them aside. Put 
two ounces of butter in a frying-pan ; when very 
hot add a clove of garlic and one sliced apple ; 
brown slightly, remove the garlic, and add a des- 
sertspoonful of curry-powder mixed with a gill 
of water; stir, and add half a pint of soup-stock 
and half a teaspoonful of flour; now add the 
prawns, and the juice of half a lemon in which 
a lump of sugar has been dissolved. Pour out 
on a hot dish, and send to table with rice 
croquettes. 

Prawns, Deviled, en Coquille. — Simmer 
a quart of prawns fifteen minutes in water fla- 
vored with a little sharp vinegar ; drain, and cut 
them very fine. Add two ounces of butter, a gill 
of water, salt and pepper, the yolks of two eggs, 
and bread-crumbs to absorb the moisture. Mix 
to a paste. Partly fill the shells, cover with 
crumbs, add a small pat of butter to each, and 
bake to a delicate brown. 

Prawns, Saute, a la Marengo. — Wash 
one pint of " shelled " prawns, simmer them 



56 PRAWN SALAD. 

twenty minutes, drain, and toss them a moment 
in a little hot olive-oil ; remove them, add a sprig 
of parsley, half a dozen button mushrooms, a 
gill of hot water, salt and pepper, and thicken 
with a little flour. Put the prawns on a dish, 
pour the sauce over them, garnish with fried 
eggs and slices of tomatoes fried. 

Prawn Salad. — Take one quart of prawns 
and one quart and a pint of cut celery ; put the 
celery in a bowl ; add the prawns ; garnish neatly, 
and serve with a mayonnaise. 



CRAYFISH. 



The crayfish are inhabitants of fresh- water 
streams ; and they bear a striking resemblance 
to the lobster in appearance, spawning habits, 
shedding their shell, etc. Their season begins 
early in the spring, and lasts until cold weather. 
During a bountiful supply of these delicious 
shell-fish, large quantities are packed away in 
ice-houses for winter use, when there is a big 
demand for them from caterers who use them 
as garnishment, and for salads and sauces. They 
cost from three to four dollars per hundred 
in the New- York markets. Those that come 
from Milwaukee are highly esteemed; and, as 



CRAYFISH OMELET. 57 

they are already cooked, they may be used at 
luncheon, and on fast-days as salads. A cray- 
fish salad is an enjoyable dish. 

Crayfish Omelet. — Rinse half a pint of 
crayfish tails in salted water, and drain them ; 
then split each tail in two lengthwise, and re- 
move the thread-like intestine found therein. 
Toss them about a moment in a little butter and 
tablespoonful of broth or gravy ; season with a 
dash of cayenne. Make a four-egg omelet, and 
just before folding add the crayfish. 



SALMON. 



Salmon Steak. — Put into fast boihng water, 
salted, a slice of fresh salmon, and boil for five 
minutes quite rapidly ; then set on back of the 
range where it will simmer for fifteen minutes 
longer. Drain, and place it on a napkin sur- 
rounded with a border of parsley. On the two 
ends of the platter place slices of lemon. Serve 
with a sauce in a sauce-boat. Drawn butter 
with a few prawns or shrimps cut up in it is a 
nice sauce for salmon. 

Canned Salmon. — The canning of salmon 
at the source of supply has been of lasting ben- 
efit to mankind, for we are now able to pro- 



58 SALMON PATTIES. 

cure a pound of salmon in any quarter of the 
globe for a reasonable sum. Canned salmon 
has one advantage over the fresh fish : it does 
not deteriorate, and lose its flavor. Those who 
have tried it say they do not get surfeited with 
canned salmon, although many of the same indi- 
viduals dislike the fresh salmon owing to its 
richness, and on this account rarely eat it. 

Salmon Patties. — This is a very nice way 
of serving salmon at luncheon. Open a pound 
can of salmon, drain, add to the small amount of 
salmon liquid sufficient water to make a gill, 
season it with salt and pepper, and, if on hand, 
add a httle anchovy paste. Beat up the yolks 
of tv/o eggs with half a teaspoonful of flour dis- 
solved in a little cold water or milk : add the gill 
of water, place it on the range to become hot 
and thick, whisking it meanwhile ; break the 
salmon into pieces, and add to the sauce. When 
quite hot, fill the patty shells with it, and serve. 
A very rich sauce may be made by the addition 
of butter and cream. 

The patty shells are made as follows : Roll out 
some very light puff-paste, half an inch thick ; 
stamp it in rounds with a three-inch cutter, press 
a small cutter in the middle of each round to 
the depth of quarter of an inch ; put the rounds 
on a buttered tin, brush a little beaten egg over 



SALMON SURPRISE. 59 

them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, 
remove the centre, scoop out a httle of the inside, 
and the shells are ready for the mixture. 

Salmon Surprise. — Boil two quarts of 
potatoes with their jackets on. When done, peel 
and mash them with butter and warm milk. 
Arrange a border of potatoes on a flat, oval dish. 
In the centre of this put a pound of canned or 
cold salmon separated into neat-sized pieces, salt, 
pepper, a very little mace, and a teaspoonful of 
chopped parsley ; cover the salmon with a layer 
of raw oysters ; add a little oyster-liquor, cover 
the oysters with a thin smooth layer of mashed 
potato, and brush the beaten yolk of egg over 
all. Then make a small hole in the centre, and 
place the dish in an oven hot enough to brown 
the outside quickly. 

Salmon a la Creole. — Scald and put 
three large tomatoes to simmer in very little 
water, until tender : chop up very fine a sweet 
Spanish pepper and quarter of an onion ; fry 
these in a little bacon fat ; add the tomato, salt, 
and httle white pepper. Simmer until reduced 
to a pulp. Open a pound can of salmon ; set 
the can in a saucepan half full of hot water, turn 
the salmon out on a dish. When it is quite hot, 
pour the pulp over it, and serve. Canned toma- 
toes may be used instead of fresh tomatoes. 



60 SALMON PIE. 

Salmon Pie. — Cut up four boiled potatoes 
into neat pieces ; cut half a pound of boiled salt 
pork into dice ; divide a pound of canned sal- 
mon into symmetrical pieces ; roll out quarter of 
a pound of puff-paste, cut it into squares, and roll 
each of these into a little ball. Arrange these 
ingredients alternately in a deep yellow dish, sea- 
son with salt and pepper, add hot water or gravy 
to prevent burning, cover the top with paste, 
make a hole in the centre, and bake in a moder- 
ate oven. 

Salmon in Jelly. — Take one gallon of 
clear soup, and boil it down to a quart. Soak 
a teaspoonful of gelatine in cold water, and add 
to the reduced soup to make sure that it will 
be stiff when cold. 

Take a two-quart tin mould, set it on ice, and 
pour enough of the liquid in it to cover the 
bottom. Let this become firm. Cut into slices, 
and then into diamonds, boiled beets, white 
turnips, and cold boiled tongue ; dip each into 
the liquid, and place them in the mould in a 
very neat and artistic manner ; when they be- 
come firm, spread over them a layer an inch 
thick, of cream-mashed potato ; now add a 
pound of canned salmon, and pour round the 
edges and on top the remainder of the reduced 
soup, and set the mould in a very cold place to 



SALMON OMELET. 6 1 

become firm. When wanted, dip the mould into 
hot water quickly, and turn it out. This is an 
excellent dish for collations, wedding break- 
fasts, etc. The potato must be made rich with 
butter and milk, and beaten to a light consist- 
ency before being placed in the mould. Any 
other kind of cold fish will answer quite as well 
as salmon for this and other dishes herein 
mentioned. 

Salmon Omelet. — Separate half a pound 
of canned salmon into flakes, season with salt and 
pepper, a little lemon-juice, and add a little of 
the Uquid; heat it a little, whip up the eggs 
for an omelet, prepare it as usual, and just be- 
fore completing the fold add the salmon ; then 
turn it out on a hot dish. 

Salmon, German Style. — Boil two quarts 
of sauerkraut ; drain it, and pile it on a hot 
dish ; have ready a pound of canned salmon 
hot ; make a hole in the centre of the kraut, 
insert the fish, simmer and season the salmon 
liquid, pour it over the dish, and serve. 

Salmon a 1 'Italienne. — Boil half a pound 
of macaroni in water slightly salted ; drain. 
Heat a can of salmon in hot water ; turn it out 
on a dish ; arrange the macaroni round it ; pour 
over the macaroni the contents of a pound 
can of tomato-pulp (hot), sprinkle over this a 
little grated Parmesan cheese, and serve. 



62 SALMON A LA HOLLAND AISE. 

Salmon a la HoUandaise. — Heat a 
pound of canned salmon in the original can ; 
turn it out on a hot dish, garnish neatly, and 
pour over it the following sauce : Cream two 
ounces of butter, whisk into it the yolks of 
two beaten eggs, add a little salt and white 
pepper, and half a teaspoonful of strong vinegar ; 
put the pan in a larger one containing hot 
water, whisk it until it thickens, and just before 
serving add a little lemon-juice. 

Salmon, Hunter's Style. — One of the 
best dishes I have ever eaten while hunting was 
prepared as follows : Take three one-pound cans 
of salmon (save the liquid), and divide into neat 
pieces ; make a dough as for milk biscuits : 
divide half of it into litde balls ; take one box 
of sardines ; put a layer of sliced bacon in the 
bottom of a gallon crock ; add a layer of sal- 
mon, a few dough balls, two sardines, salt, cay- 
enne. Continue arranging in alternate layers 
until the ingredients are all used ; add a wine- 
glassful of vinegar to the salmon liquid, and 
if there is not enough add a little water ; cover 
the top with the remainder of the dough, and 
tie one or two thicknesses of white cloth over 
all. Dig a hole deep enough to be lined with 
mud or stones and to receive the crock ; build 
a fire in and over it (the smoke will keep off the 



BOUILLABAISSE 6^ 

mosquitoes). When reduced to coals, scoop 
out the ashes and coals from the hole, cover the 
cloth with mud, set the crock in the hole, and 
cover up with the hot ashes ; let it remain three 
hours, and a more satisfactory dish cannot be 
imagined. 

Bouillabaisse. — This celebrated dish was 
immortalized by Thackeray. Put into a frying- 
pan a gill of olive-oil, a clove of garlic minced, 
a tablespoonful of chopped onion, two cloves, 
six peppercorns ; when slightly brown, add one 
pound of canned salmon and the salmon liquid 
in the can ; add a little salt, a bit of bay leaf, 
three sHces of lemon, a pint of tomato pulp, a 
pinch of curry-powder or saffron, a gill of Rhine 
wine, with water enough to cover the fish : sim- 
mer twenty minutes. Line a deep dish with 
toast, remove from the pan all seasoning in sight, 
pour the contents of the pan on the toast, and 
serve. 



CODFISH. 



Boiled Codfish, Oyster Sauce. — The 

only thing that can be urged against this most 
excellent fish is its homely name. Were it not 
so cheap, its good qualities would rapidly find 



64 CODFISH TONGUES. 

favor at all gastronomic entertainments where 
palate-pleasing dishes are appreciated. Put the 
fish into boiling water, slighdy salted ; add a 
few whole cloves and peppers, and a bit of 
lemon-peel ; pull gently on the fins, and when 
they come out easily the fish is done. Arrange 
neatly on a folded napkin, garnish, and serve 
with oyster sauce. Take six oysters to every 
pound of fish, and scald them in a half-pint of 
hot oyster liquor ; take out the oysters, and add 
to the liquor, salt, pepper, a bit of mace, and an 
ounce of butter; whip into it a gill of milk, 
containing half of a teaspoonful of flour. Sim- 
mer a moment ; add the oysters, and send to 
table in a sauce-boat. 

A four-pound fish should cook in about forty 
minutes. 

Codfish Tongues. — Wash four codfish 
tongues thoroughly in cold water; put them 
on the range in hot water, slightly salted, and 
boil thirty minutes ; drain ; arrange neatly on 
a folded napkin placed upon a hot dish ; gar- 
nish with parsley and slices of lemon, and send 
to table with cream sauce. 

Codfish Steak. — Select a medium-sized 
fresh codfish, cut it in steaks crosswise of the 
fish about an inch and a half thick ; sprinkle a 
little salt over them, and let them stand two 



NEW-ENGLAND CODFISH BALLS. 65 

hours. Cut into dice a pound of salt fat pork, 
fry out all the fat from them, and remove the 
crisp bits of pork ; put the codfish steaks in a 
pan of corn-meal, dredge them with it, and, 
when the pork-fat is smoking hot, fry the steaks 
in it to a dark brown color on both sides. 
Squeeze over them a little lemon-juice, add a 
dash of freshly ground pepper, and serve with 
hot, old-fashioned, well buttered johnny-cake. 

New-England Codfish Balls. — Shred 
the codfish the night before, and soak it over 
night ; drain quite dry on towel next day. Mash 
fine one pound of hot boiled potatoes. Take 
an equal amount of codfish, and divide it very 
fine. Mix both together, and add the beaten 
yolks of two eggs, two ounces of melted butter, 
and a saltspoonful of white pepper. Now beat 
the mixture until it is very light, for upon this 
process depends the success or failure of the 
dish. In shaping them together, do not press 
them any more than is absolutely necessary. 
Most cooks press them into cakes so hard 
that it is next to an impossibility to eat them. 
Dredge them lightly with a little flour, and fry 
them like doughnuts in smoking hot fat. When 
properly prepared and cooked they should fairly 
melt in the mouth, which they will do if thor- 
oughly beaten and lightly handled. 



66 BAKED COD. 

Baked Cod. — When purchasing a four- 
pound cod, ask your fish-dealer to send you 
three " codfish-heads ; " and as soon as the bas- 
ket comes into the house, rub a httle salt on the 
fish, chop the heads into six pieces each, and 
sprinkle a little salt over them. Place them in 
the centre of the baking-pan (to be used as 
supports for the fish), with a gill of water. Set 
the pan in the o^■en while you prepare the cod. 

Soak in cold water until soft a sufiiciency of 
bread to fill the fish ; drain off the water, and 
pound the bread to a paste ; mix with it two 
tiblepoonsfuls of melted butter, t^\'0 raw eggs, a 
tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce, with salt 
and pepper to taste. Put this stuffing inside the 
fish, and sew it up ; place the cod in the pan 
with two or three pieces of butter on the upper 
side of the fish, and baste it frequently ; when it 
is cooked, lay the fish on a hot platter, and gar- 
nish with fried oysters if convenient. Add a 
tablespoonful of browm flour to the pan, a \\'ine- 
glass of claret ; mix, and strain the gra\y into a 
sauce-boat. Time to cook, one hour. 

Salt Codfish with Cream. — Soak one 
pound and a half of salt codfish over night. 
Next morning set the fish to simmer for about 
two hours ; drain off the water, and strip the fish 
into shreds ; place it in a saucepan with a quart 



SCROD. 67 

of milk and two ounces of butter ; mix a table- 
spoonfal of flour with two tablespoonfuls of cold 
milk, and add to the fish. Let the whole come to 
a boil ; remove the dish from the fire, beat up one 
tgg to a froth, add it to the fish, stir, and serve. 
Scrod. — Small codfish no larger than our 
tomcod are called scrod in Eastern Massachu- 
setts. Afier they have been corned over night, 
they are broiled and fried. 



BROOK TROUT. 

Cultivated trout may be purchased at from 
sixty to seventy- five cents per pound, and wild 
trout from twenty-five to thirty-five cents per 
pound, after April first. There are many house- 
keepers who will not purchase the latter, think- 
ing that as they are cheaper, they cannot be so 
good as the more expensive trout. Cultivated 
trout are only trout in name and outside appear- 
ance, and no more compare in flavor with the 
wild trout than chalk does with cheese. They 
are fattened (not allowed to feed naturally) on 
cheap animal food that destroys all trout flavor ; 
and they live in artificial streams or ponds, 
acquiring a peculiar swampy flavor which is 
decidedly objectionable. 



68 BROOK TROUT, SPORTSMAN STYLE. 

The wild trout lives in clear running streams, 
fed from never-ending springs ; here he finds a 
beautiful supply of food furnished by nature's 
generous hand, instead of the refuse of the 
butcher furnished to his more aristocratic 
brother. Besides being superior in every way, 
the wild trout is always cheaper. 

Shippers of trout often pack their speckled 
beauties in moss, which injures their flavor ma- 
terially ; and the housekeeper is obliged to let 
them stand in cold water, shghtly salted, to 
extract the flavor of the moss. This is a good 
plan to follow, by the way, when the trout are 
frozen, as nearly all wild trout are in the early 
spring. 

Brook Trout, Sportsman Style. ^ — Clean 
and rinse a quarter-of-a-pound trout in cold 
spring water ; dry it in a towel. Cut half a 
pound of salt pork into small pieces ; put these 
into a thoroughly clean frying-pan ; fry out the 
clear fat, and remove the small pieces of pork. 
Rub a little fine table-salt in the inside of the 
fish, and when the pork-fat is smoking hot, add 
the fish to it ; turn it three times before it is 
done. When nicely browned, serve it on a hot 
dish, and send it to the table without adding 
condiments of any kind. Should you be able to 
procure fresh butter, a little may be put on the 



BROILED TROUT. 69 

fish before it is served, but it must be of 
the very best quaUty. 

Broiled Trout. — The foregoing is a recipe 
for cooking trout immediately after catching 
them. After they are brought to our city mar- 
kets from distant mountain streams, however, 
they are most toothsome when broiled over a 
decHning fire, and require a seasoning of salt, 
pepper, and a little lemon-juice mixed with the 
sweetest of sweet butter. Serve with hot plates. 

Brook Trout, Baked. — Trout weigliing a 
pound or over are best when served baked, 
though many sportsmen will not listen to this 
proposition. The outside of a large trout is 
almost ruined in broiling before the centre of 
the fish is cooked. Do not split the fish down 
the back. Take half a pint of fine grated bread- 
crumbs, and soak them in a little milk ; squeeze 
out tlie milk ; add two ounces of table butter, a 
saltspoonful of salt, half a saltspoonful of white 
pepper, the juice of a quarter of a lemon, and 
the slightest sprig of thyme ; add the yolk of 
one raw egg ; mix ; open the trout just enough 
to clean it properly ; remove the gills (leave the 
heads on), fill the cavity with the stuffing, and 
sew it up carefully. Put the fish in a tin, on top 
of it place small bits of butter previously roiled 
in flour, place it in a good oven, and bake with 



70 BROOK TROUT, BOILED. 

the back toward the hottest part of the oven. 
The length of time it will take to cook properly 
is from twenty to thirty minutes, very often a 
little longer, for much depends on the tempera- 
ture of the oven. 

Brook Trout, Boiled. — To boil trout 
seems an outrage ; but when one receives a 
large quantity of them, and there is danger of 
their spoiling if not immediately used, put four 
small trout properly cleaned into a saucepan, 
cover them with claret, add a slice of lemon, 
two cloves, four whole peppers, the least bit of 
mace, and a heaping saltspoonful of salt. Sim- 
mer slowly three-quarters of an hour ; remove 
the saucepan from the range, and when cold 
take out the fish, put them in a dish, and pour 
the boiled wine over them. Serve at luncheon 
or collations. 

The head, tail, and fins of trout should not be 
removed before cooking. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

Catfish, Fried. — Catfish and waffles is a 
combination dear to the hearts of Philadelphians, 
and the road-houses near that city are celebrated 
for cooking them. Select the fish already cleaned, 



THE TENDERLOIN TROUT. 7 1 

as it is a troublesome job to clean them, and 
pick out the white instead of the red catfish ; 
rub a little salt along the backbone on the in- 
side, and let the fish stand over night. Next 
day dredge theip with corn-meal or flour, and 
fry in a little fat ; sprinkle salt and pepper over 
them before serving. 

The Tenderloin Trout. — Large catfish 
are caught in Southern rivers ; and while they are 
fair eating, they are not popular with the whites 
in the vicinity of New Orleans. The restaur- 
ant people, however, cut the fish into pieces an 
inch square and about four inches long ; these 
are dipped in egg, rolled in crumbs, and fried 
and served as tenderloin trout. 

Fricasseed Eels. — Cut up three pounds 
of eels into pieces of three inches in length ; 
put them into a stewpan, and cover them with 
Rhine wine (or two-thirds water and one-third 
vinegar) ; add fifteen oysters, two pieces of 
lemon, a bouquet of herbs, one onion quartered, 
six cloves, three stalks celery, a pinch of cayenne, 
pepper and salt to taste. Stew the eels one 
hour ; remove them from the dish ; strain the 
liquor. Put it back into the stewpan with a 
gill of cream and an ounce of butter rolled in 
flour ; simmer gently a few minutes, pour over 
the fish, and serve. 



72 EEL PAITIES. 

Eel Patties. — Take three medium-sized 
eels, and cut them up into inch pieces. Put 
them in a stewpan, add salt, and cover them 
with cold water. When the water comes to a 
boil, take them off the fire, wash them in cold 
water, scrape off any fat that may adhere, return 
them to the stewpan with just enough hot water 
to cover them, and add a blade of mace, a bay 
leaf, a few whole peppers, a few sprigs of pars- 
ley, and one lemon cut into slices. Stew gently 
until the fish will separate from the bone ; re- 
move the fish from the broth, pick it into small 
pieces, and set them aside ; reduce the broth a 
little, strain, and thicken with flour and butter. 
Return the fish to the broth, simmer a moment, 
fill your patties, and serve ; make patty- shells as 
directed for oyster patties. 

Stewed Eels, Hoboken Turtle Club 
Style. — Cut into three-inch pieces two pounds 
of medium-sized cleaned eels. Rub the inside of 
each piece with salt. Let stand half an hour, 
then parboil them. Boil an onion in a quart of 
milk, and remove the onion. Drain the eels from 
the water, and add them to the milk. Season 
with half a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, salt 
and pepper, and the slightest suspicion of mace. 
Simmer until the flesh falls from the bones. 

Fried eels should be slightly salted before 



PAN BASS, ANCHOVY BUTTER. 73 

cooking them. Do not cover them with batter, 
but dredge them with just flour enough to ab- 
sorb all moisture, then cover them with boiling 
fat, as for doughnut cooking. Many New Eng- 
land families use corn-meal to dredge them with 
instead of flour. 

Eels en matelotie, or sailor fashion, are appre- 
ciated by many. Cut them into three-inch 
pieces, and salt them. Fry an onion brown in a 
little dripping ; add half a pint of broth to the 
brown onion, part of a bay leaf, six broken pep- 
percorns, four whole cloves, and a gill of claret. 
Add the eels to this, and simmer until thoroughly 
cooked. Remove the eels, put them on a hot 
dish, add a teaspoonful of browned flour to the 
sauce, strain, and pour over the eels. 

Pan Bass, Anchovy Butter. — During 
February, March, and the first part of April, 
there may be foimd in market a variety of bass 
which much resembles the Oswego bass. They 
come from the Carolinas and Virginia, and are 
excellent eating. Let them stand an hour in 
salt water, then drain and wipe dry, and fry 
them in tried-out salt-pork fat. Serve them 
with a butter made as follows : Mix together a 
teaspoonful of anchovy paste with a tablespoon- 
ful of sweet butter, and, if not objected to, add 
a few blades of chopped chives. 



74 FILLET OF FLOUNDER, TARTAR SAUCE. 

The chive has the flavor peculiar to the onion 
family, but in a mild form. It is cultivated by 
truck gardeners, and may be found on the New 
York vegetable stands as early as January. The 
retail price at the first of the season is ten cents 
a tuft ; as it becomes more plentiful, it is offered 
at five cents. 

Placed in the kitchen, it grows luxuriantly, — 
in fact, it grows faster than it can be used by a 
small family. This very useful herb should be 
in the kitchen window of every home where 
soups and salads are rightly appreciated. 

The chive grows wild in nearly all of the 
Middle and Eastern States, and the first green 
spot seen in our parks is more than likely to be 
chives. Cows eat it, and their milk has a slight 
garlic flavor. The garlic flavor in milk is decid- 
edly objectionable ; yet the early Dutch settlers 
planted the chives in the pastures for the cows 
to eat, thereby imparting to the milk this pe- 
culiar flavor. 

Fillet of Flounder, Tartar Sauce. — 
Cut the flesh from the bone lengthwise, and then 
cut each piece into strips an inch wide. Dip 
them in beaten egg. Roll them in cracker- 
crumbs, and fry in hot fat enough to cover them. 
This dish appears on our French bills-of-fare as 
^/e/ de sole. Serve with sauce tartare. 



FRIED TOMCODS. 75 

Fried Tomcods. — These delicate, sweet- 
flavored pan-fish are called frost-fish by dealers, 
but the fishermen along the Hudson call them 
''Tommies." Whatever name they are known 
by, they are delicious morsels when fresh caught. 
Clean them without removing the heads, dry 
them in a napkin, and salt their insides, dredge 
them with a little flour, and fry them crisp in 
hot smoking fat. Put the clean fish into a 
baking-tin. Over each fish place a thin slice 
of bacon, add salt and pepper, and bake them 
twenty minutes in a hot oven. 

Broiled Salt Codfish. — Cut half of a 
small codfish into medium-sized square pieces ; 
split them in two, and soak them over night 
in cold water. Drain, and dry them in a napkin, 
next morning. Rub a little butter over each 
piece, and broil them. Place them on a hot 
platter, and pour a litde melted butter over 
them. 

Drawn butter is sometimes served with this 
dish. It should be very "smooth looking, and 
have a starchy appearance. Divide three ounces 
of butter into litde balls. Dredge them with 
flour. Put one- fourth of them into a saucepan, 
and when they begin to melt, whisk to a smooth 
consistency. Now add one more of the floured 
balls, and whisk thoroughly until incorporated 



76 BROILED SALT MACKEREL. 

with the first. Repeat this process until all are 
used. When smooth and thick, stir in a tea- 
spoonful of lemon-juice, and, if liked, a httle 
chopped parsley. 

Broiled Salt Mackerel. — "I like salt 
mackerel, but it does not agree with me," is a 
remark often heard in nearly all classes of society. 
Many imagine they can eat cured fish with the 
same degree of recklessness and lack of regard 
for dietetic laws which they often show in eat- 
ing more digestible food. They soon discover, 
however, that something is radically wrong ; just 
where the blame rests, is a matter they settle to 
their own satisfaction by declaring that salt mack- 
erel was not intended for civilized people, be- 
cause they are unable to eat it without experien- 
cing disagreeable after-effects. 

Salt mackerel is really wholesome food, but, 
like all cured food, is not so digestible as when 
fresh : it is therefore necessary to restore it as 
near as possible to its original freshness. This 
is done by a thorough soaking in a liberal quan- 
tity of fresh water. There is no danger of the 
fish becoming too fresh ; if it does, it is an easy 
matter to add fresh salt, which is much more 
acceptable than condensed brine. 

In selecting salt mackerel, examine them care- 
fully. If rusty in appearance reject them, " for 



FRIED PORGIES WITH SALT PORK. 77 

rust in fish, if I am not mistaken, is as bad as 
rust in steel or rust in bacon." Large fish are 
likely to be poor and coarse ; a medium-sized or 
No. 2 is the most profitable provided the white 
or under part of the fish is fat. After soaking 
thoroughly, rub a little melted butter or olive-oil 
over them, and broil not too close to the fire ; do 
not cook them enough to dry up all moisture, as 
they would then be unpalatable. After broihng, 
plunge them into boiling water for a moment to 
swell them, — this treatment gives the fish the 
appearance of being fat, — place on a hot plate, 
add a little melted butter, a dash of pepper, and 
finally the juice of half a lemon. 

To avoid the unpleasantness referred to, drink 
all liquids first, before eating a mouthful of the 
fish ; masticate the food thoroughly and slowly, 
and the result will be surprising. Those who 
eat salt fish alternated with mouthfuls of liquid 
must expect the oily particles to rise up, and 
create a gastronomic disturbance. 

Fried Porgies with Salt Pork. — The 
much-abused porgy is one of the sweetest of 
pan-fish. Select four good-sized porgies, and 
clean them, but do not remove the heads. Cut 
into small dice a quarter of a pound of fat salt 
pork, fry out the fat, and when it is very hot fry 
the fish in it. While they are cooking, broil four 



78 FISH CURRIES. 

small thin slices of the pork, and serve by placing 
them on top of the fish. Pork gives a more 
delicate flavor to the fish than bacon. 

Fish Curries. — Cold boiled or baked fish 
is simply a luxury when warmed up in a delicious 
curry sauce. This dish may be served at break- 
fast or luncheon. Americans are fast learning 
the usefulness of curry-powders \ as yet they de- 
mand a mild form of curry, and a little flour is 
added to the sauce to tone down the pungency 
of the curry. 

A Plain Fish Curry. — Fry an onion quite 
brown in a little butter or oil, add a teaspoonful 
of curry-powder and half a pint of hot water. 
Dissolve a teaspoonfiii of flour in a little cold 
water ; when free from lumps add it to the sauce, 
then strain ) divide the cold fish into flakes, and 
warm it up in the sauce. 

Curry of Scallops. — Wash a quart of 
scallops in cold water, drain, put them in a sauce- 
pan, and let them simmer gently one hour. 
Blanch two ounces of sweet almonds, remove 
husks, and fry a delicate brown ; drain from the 
hot butter, and pound to a paste with a clove of 
garlic, the grated rind of a lemon. Mix two tea- 
spoonfuls of curry, a little sauce, and an ounce 
of butter, put it in the frying-pan, and add grad- 
ually one half-pint of the scallop broth and the 



CURRY OF CRAYFISH. 79 

almond paste. Now add a pint of hot milk ; 
simmer until the Hquid is reduced one-third, 
add the scallops, and serve. 

Curry of Crayfish. — These maybe pur- 
chased by the quart at all seasons. They are 
already boiled. Prepare the curry sauce as 
above described, add the crayfish, and serve 
with rice ; over all squeeze the juice of a sweet 
orange. 

Curry of Eels, with Rice. — Cut into two- 
inch pieces one medium-sized eel or two small 
ones ; put them in a saucepan, and cover with 
boiling water ; add a little salt, a piece of lemon- 
peel, and a tablespoonful of vinegar ; boil slowly 
one hour, and drain. Cut up a small onion, and 
fry it brown in a little butter ; add a pint of 
the water in which the fish was boiled, and a 
teaspoonful of walnut catsup. Mix together 
a teaspoonful of flour with a gill of cold water, 
rub it smooth, and add a teaspoonful of dry curry- 
powder. Mix, and add it to the pan, strain, and 
return to the pan ; then add the eels ; simmer 
fifteen minutes, and serve surrounded by a bor- 
der of boiled rice. 

Curry of Shad Roe. — Fry half an onion 
very brown in a heaping teaspoonful of dripping ; 
add a teaspoonful of curry-powder, and a few 
moments later add a gill of hot water ; simmer 



8o CURRY OF frogs' LEGS. 

five minutes, and add a teaspoonful of flour 
dissolved in a little water. When it begins to 
thicken, strain. While preparing the sauce, boil 
two roes in water well salted. When done, place 
them on a hot platter, and pour the sauce over 
them. 

Curry of Frogs' Legs. — This is an excel- 
lent dish. Wash one pound of frogs' legs in cold 
water ; brown one-fourth of an onion in oil or 
butter ; add a teaspoonful of curry and a pint of 
hot water ; pour this in a saucepan, and add tlie 
frogs ; simmer an hour and a half, and drain. 
Mix a teaspoonful each of rice-flour and curry- 
to a paste, with the broth ; add salt to taste, 
and half a pint of milk. Place on the range, and 
when hot add the frogs. Blanch two dozen sweet 
almonds ; rub off the skins, split them, and toss 
them about in hot butter ; season with pepper 
and salt ; when done squeeze a little lemon-juice 
over them, and send to table on separate dish 
with the curry. 

Broiled Weakfish. — When freshly caught, 
this is an excellent fish and well flavored ; but 
it loses its flavor when kept on ice more than 
a day, and the flesh becomes soft and spongy. 
In color the weakfish is of a bluish-gray, with 
faint speckled back and sides, belly white, the 
fins yellow. It is in season from May to Octo- 



BAKED WHITEFISH, BORDEAUX SAUCE. 8 1 

ber, and is best-flavored in the latest two months 
of that time. Select a medium-sized fish for 
broiling; see that the flesh is firm, the eyes 
bright, and the gills a bright red, and free from a 
soft, flabby appearance. Place the well-cleaned 
whole fish on the table or fish-board, back 
towards you ; make an incision close to the 
head, down to the bone ; hold the head firmly 
with the left hand, and cut the fish in two length- 
wise, keeping the knife close to the bone the 
whole length of the fish; remove the bone. (The 
bone and head may be boiled a few hours, sea- 
soned, and the broth used in fast-day soups.) 
Cut each piece of fish in two, crosswise ; rub on 
a little sweet oil or melted butter; broil the 
outer side first, then the inner side, and serve 
with this side upwards on the hot dish ; pour 
over the fish well-made drawn butter (which 
see). 

Baked Whitefish, Bordeaux Sauce. — 
Clean and stuff the fish. Put it in a baking-pan, 
and add a liberal quantity of butter, previously 
rolled in flour, to the fish. Put in the pan half 
a pint of claret, and bake for an hour. Remove 
the fish, and strain the gravy ; add to the latter 
a gill more of claret, a teaspoonful of brown 
flour, and a pinch of cayenne, and serve with 
the fish. 



82 HALIBUT EGG SAUCE. 

Halibut, Egg Sauce. — Select a three- 
pound piece of wliite halibut, cover it with a 
cloth, and place it in a steamer ; set the steamer 
over a pot of fast boiling water, and steam two 
hours ; place it on a hot dish, surrounded with 
a border of parsley ; and serve with egg-sauce, 
which is made as follows : — 

Egg Sauce. — Cream an ounce of butter; 
add to it one tablespoonful of dry flour, a salt- 
spoonful of salt, and half a salt spoonful of white 
pepper (black pepper spoils its color) . Stir it 
briskly, and add half a pint of hot water. Divide 
an ounce of butter into Uttle balls, roll them in 
flour, and add them one at a time ; stir con- 
stantly, and care should be exercised not to 
allow the sauce to brown or discolor. Chop 
three cold hard-boiled eggs, and add them to 
the sauce ; let it heat thoroughly, and serve in a 
boat. 

Fried Butterfish. — These flat, slate-col- 
ored little fish are excellent when quite fresh ; 
and as they are easily cleaned, they are recom- 
mended to house-keepers. Fry them in tried- 
out salt-pork fat, which gives them a very nice 
flavor. 

Broiled Shad. — The secret of having the 
fish juicy, and at the same time properly cooked, 
is to rub a little oHve-oil over it before broiling, 



BAKED SHAD. S$ 

and broil it over a fire free from smoke or flame. 
Charcoal affords the best fire. The sulphurous 
fumes of hard coal injure the flavor of the fish. 
When done, have ready a little sweet butter melted 
and mixed with salt, white pepper (black pepper 
spoils the looks of the fish), half a teaspoonful 
of chopped parsley to two ounces of butter, and 
the juice of half a lemon. Place the fish on a 
hot dish, pour the hot sauce over it, and serve 
with hot plates. 

Baked Shad. — Broiling is, next to planking, 
the best way of cooking this excellent fish ; but 
a baked shad is not to be despised. Prepare it 
as follows : — 

Make a stuffing of soaked bread-crumbs, butter, 
pepper, and salt ; place it lengthwise in a pan ; 
roll walnuts of butter in flour, and put four to 
six of them on top of the fish ; fill the space 
around the fish with inch slices of raw potato, 
and bake forty minutes. When done, serve pota- 
toes and fish together. 

Shad Roe a la Poulette. — Cover a pair 
of roes with water slightly salted ; add a table- 
spoonful of vinegar and a slice of lemon ; simmer 
twenty minutes, and drain ; put into a saucepan 
an ounce of butter ; when it begins to melt, whisk 
it, and add the juice of half a lemon. 

Beat up the yolk of one egg with a gill of 



$4 BROILED ROYANS. 

cream containing half a teaspoonful of flour 
rubbed free from lumps ; whisk this gently into 
the warm butter; keep it quite warm until it 
thickens, but do not boil, or it will curdle. Pour 
it over the shad roes, strew over the top a trifle 
of chopped parsley, and serve. 

Broiled Royans. — These dehcate little fish 
are excellent as whet at dinner-parties, and may 
be served au naticrel, or broiled, or served on 
toast. Procure them from the nearest grocer, 
open the can carefully to prevent breaking the 
fish, remove the skin, and broil them over a 
slow fire ; arrange them on toast, squeeze a Uttie 
lemon-juice over them, and serve. 

Broiled Sardines. — When neatly prepared, 
this forms an excellent breakfast or luncheon 
dish. 

Remove the sardines from the can without 
breaking them ; scrape off the skin, place them 
between double wire broilers, and broil to a 
delicate brown ; arrange neatly in a hot dish, 
squeeze a little lemon-juice over them, and serve. 
Orange-juice is very nice with the above dish. 

Broiled Smelts, Sauce Tartare. — Thor- 
oughly clean half a dozen smelts, spHt them in 
two, place them on a double wire broiler, and 
broil. Send to table with sauce tartare, which 
is made as follows : Chop together a few sprigs 



SMELT FRIED, SAUCE TARTARE. 85 

of parsley, six capers, one small pickle, a piece of 
onion as large as a bean. Add these to half a 
pint of mayonnaise, mix, and add a teaspoonful 
of French mustard, mix again, and serve. 

Smelts Fried, Sauce Tartare. — Clean 
six small smelts, leave on the heads, dip them in 
beaten egg, roll them in fine cracker-dust, 
and fry in very hot fat. Serve with sauce 
tartare. 

Broiled Whitefish. — The whitefish is one 
of the best of summer fish, but does not stand 
long transportation very well. See that the flesh 
is firm, and free from flabbiness. Cut the fish 
in two lengthwise, remove the backbone, divide 
each piece in two ; brush over it a little sweet 
butter or olive-oil, and broil over a moderate fire 
for ten minutes. Place it in a hot dish, squeeze 
the juice of a lemon over it, add salt and pepper 
and a tablespoonful of melted butter. Garnish 
with tufts of parsley and thin slices of lemon, 
and serve. 

Sheeps-head with Drawn Butter. — The 
Englishman who wrote the extraordinary state- 
ment that sheeps-head sometimes sold for " four 
or five pounds sterhng in New York" may be 
pleased to learn that the price for this excellent 
fish is fifteen to eighteen cents per pound on an 
average, and that the best mode of preparing it 



86 DRAWN BUTTER. 

for table is to boil or steam it, although broiled 
sheeps-head is very good. 

Procure a medium-sized fish, clean it thor- 
oughly, and rub a little salt over it ; wrap it in a 
cloth, and put it in a steamer ; place this over 
a pot of fast boiling water, and steam one hour ; 
then lay it whole upon a hot side-dish, garnish 
with tufts of parsley and slices of lemon, and 
serve with drawn butter prepared as follows : — 

Drawn Butter. — Take four ounces of 
butter, and roll it into small balls ; dredge these 
with flour ; put one-fourth of them in a sauce- 
pan, and as they begin to melt whisk them ; add 
the remainder, one at a time, until thoroughly 
smooth ; while stirring add a tablespoonful of 
lemon-juice and half a teaspoonful of chopped 
parsley ; pour into a hot sauce-boat, and serve. 

Broiled Sheeps-head. — Split the fish in 
two lengthwise, and remove the head and bone, 
brush over the fish a liberal quantity of melted 
butter or oil, then broil over a fire free from 
flame or smoke. When done, squeeze the juice 
of a lemon over the fish, then add salt, pepper, 
and a pat of the choicest table butter. 



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